Test Drive: Bentley Bentayga EWB Azure with Airline Seat Specification
The luxury model takes driver and passenger comfort to the next level with its responsive seat technology
In the upper echelon of the SUV marketplace it is not unreasonable to expect a high degree of comfort. And yet, many brands still come up short where it arguably matters most—the seats. In an era when the creature comforts that used to be reserved for the best a brand had to offer have trickled down into most entry level vehicles, finding a way to distinguish a model has become a real task. It was with that in mind that we went into our week with the 2025 Bentley Bentayga EWB Azure. It had been some time since our last encounter with a Bentayga and having driven a number of competitors in the segment, we were eager to revisit Bentley’s SUV with a new frame of reference. The conditions, as it turned out, were perfect. Frigid temps and heavy snow in Upstate New York and Southern Vermont made the benefits of the Bentayga abundantly clear. The phrase “sanctuary on wheels” gets thrown around a lot in automotive media; here it is absolutely warranted.
When we first settled into one of the cutting edge seats in the rear of the Bentayga EWB, the doors closing softly to cut off the bitter December air, something immediately felt different. It wasn’t just warmth or coziness or support, the seat was responding to us. This was a completely new experience in a vehicle, something increasingly rare nowadays. Bentley’s Airline Seat Specification makes use of an ultra-advanced Auto Climate system and it is unlike anything else in the automotive marketplace.
Rather than simply blasting hot or cool air and leaving you to fiddle with controls, the seat is embedded with sensors that read both the temperature and moisture level of the contact surface between you and the cushion. It does this every 25 milliseconds, to an accuracy of a tenth of a degree. The seat then decides, on its own, whether to warm, cool, ventilate or some combination of all three.
All the seat occupant needs to do is choose from seven comfort levels and the system handles the rest. Think of the levels as a simple dial between “a little warmer” and “a little cooler.” In practice, it means we never once thought about our temperature; we were simply comfortable as quickly as possible. As Bentley notes, most people can only detect a shift in surface temperature of 1 to 2 degrees. The system is tracking changes far smaller than that in real time and it course corrects before the occupant ever feels any approaching discomfort. Anticipating needs before people know there is one is typically the purview of luxury hospitality—with the Airline Seat it’s gone mobile. Across the wintery December days we spent with the Bentayga in the Green Mountains, that felt nothing short of extraordinary.
A second major innovation tucked beneath that hand-stitched leather is what Bentley calls Postural Adjustment. This is where things get genuinely fascinating as design and engineering become tools to improve human wellbeing. It may well be the key to Bentley’s take on modern luxury and is poised to be a game changer for drivers and passengers across their entire model range.
Most long drives, no matter how plush the vehicle, eventually take a toll on your back and legs. We’re speaking from experience. At best, traditional seat massagers address this after the fact, a reaction to discomfort already setting in. Bentley’s approach is different. Working alongside a chiropractor and a specialist firm, Comfort Motion Global, the brand developed an algorithm that prevents that fatigue from building in the first place. It works so well that we didn’t even notice it doing its job.
Using a network of pneumatic zones—think small, air-filled chambers built into the seat structure—the system makes continuous, barely perceptible adjustments to the pressure points between your body and the seat. Over a three-hour period, it cycles through 177 individual changes across six independent zones. No single area of your body bears the same load for too long. Blood flow improves, muscle tension decreases, the occupant simply doesn’t feel uncomfortable.
We drove for nearly four hours in one stint on some of New England’s rougher roads, a stretch that would normally leave us stiff and restless. We arrived feeling, remarkably, like we hadn’t been in a vehicle for more than a short jaunt.
Beneath all that handcrafted leather sits some serious engineering. Twelve silent electric motors govern 22 separate points of adjustment in the seat alone. Three pneumatic control units manage the postural system. All of it is overseen by a single master control unit that coordinates the full experience. It’s the kind of invisible complexity that great design should always conceal, but all too often does not.
The result is a vehicle that does more than transport you, it restores you. This is something many luxury and ultra-luxury brands have been chasing for years. We’ve seen wellness programs that rely on lighting, audio and olfactory systems to change a person’s state of mind and being. In the end they’ve always come across as a gimmick. No amount of spa music is going to make gridlock bearable if you are physically uncomfortable. By adding the Airline Seat Specification to the EWB, Bentley has delivered the next generation of comfort on the road. Half of all Bentayga EWB buyers are already opting for the Airline Seat Specification, which tells us consumers agree. Buyers at this level have every option available to them, and they’re choosing this one at remarkable rates.
After our December week with the Bentayga EWB, we fully understand why customers are opting for the Airline Seat. In today’s marketplace, luxury often means more of the same, more leather, more chrome, more horsepower. Bentley has taken a different route: subtlety. In a way the brand went back to basics, asking what people want more than anything when they get in or out of a vehicle. The answer? To feel great. For years they’ve catered to the mind, now they’re also catering to body and they built the technology to actually accomplish that.
What are your thoughts?